


Twelve

by A_Undomiel



Series: The paths we choose [12]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars - The Last Jedi - Fandom, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Action/Adventure, Battle, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:41:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23499196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Undomiel/pseuds/A_Undomiel
Summary: “Tell me”, she pleaded.His dark eyes glittered, their minds drinking the anxiety that permeated their bond. It was almost unbearable. Rey felt the thread stretching into breaking point until finally he exhaled and rested his forehead to hers.“I can’t see it”“What?”He slid his hands from her wrists to her shoulders, and down her back, hugging her closer. Her body molded naturally to his form. His body felt hard as rock and feverish.“The future”_____This is it. The final battle.The Destroyer is ready to rake havoc to the Republic, and Finn, Rose and Poe are ready to face it.And Ben Solo is ready to surrender to his destiny.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey & Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: The paths we choose [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/970584
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	Twelve

“It’s now or never!” Poe shouted over the com, loud and clear for everyone to hear. “We are ready, we are stronger, we will do what it takes to finally destroy all of starkiller!”

The remnants of the rebel fleet emerged from hyperspace, surrounded by a swarm of X-Wing fighters, the bold and brave of the Galaxy. Too long had they waited for this moment, the moment where they would put their foot down.

Poe watched as the pilots that himself, Finn and Rey trained assembled into position, in perfect balance. For a moment, it was a thing of beauty, a ballet of killing machines, ready to strike.

“For Leia”, the voice trembling with the statics, before being cut off.

Everyone was following the movement of the ships around the giant Destroyer.The base was safely hidden behind the moon, but for how long? Rose was blasting orders, trying to find the weak spots in the ship’s defences. The canon had its own force field, apparently, preventing any direct attack.

Finn was growing restless. There hadn’t been any shots fired: would Hux take the bait Poe was offering him? He thought of all the cruisers, star defenders and assault frigates they had been able to acquire, and paid dearly for it. He thought that he was of better use out there, with Poe, blasting away at First Order defences, teasing them into demonstrating their firepower.

Rose felt him twitch. She knew what was going through his mind.

“No, I need you here” she whispered quietly.

He looked at her and his heart settled. No one could do that to him, not even Rey. There was a calm, a determination in her that talked to his soul. He blushed, thinking about how even when they laid together, it would be exactly what she made him feel. Whole. Could that be what Rey felt when she was with Ben Solo? That same balance? 

His thought was interrupted by a boom of a voice, storming into the command deck.

“Who is in charge around here?”

Finn and Rose turned around, watching a tall pale white and red-eyed figure, cloaked in grey and purple, entering the room with a pose that obviously meant business. It was a Numa Tee, the Twi'lek senator. Rose frowned and grumbled.

“Of course he wouldn’t leave with Connix. He is too special.”

Finn turned around, himself squaring his shoulders and assuming a more commanding stance. Two could play that game. To his delight, he saw the man hesitate. But Rose was too angry to let Finn finish his display.

“Senator, why haven’t you left with Bonderi and Lieutenant Connix? Do you realize that you put this operation at risk?”

“My dear  _ girl _ , I have come precisely to put an end to a certain tragedy. The First Order will not dare to attack us, now that the galactic concord was revoked. It would be as if the entire Galaxy would rebel against them!”

Rose seemed unfazed by the Senator’s plea.

“I don’t see anyone rushing to come to our aid senator. We are not going to stand by watching Hux test that damn canon!”

Numa Tee had been pushed into taking the senator position against his will. To put it in simple terms, he did not want to die. Accepting the position among the Ten was a risk after StarKiller Base and what happened to Hosnian Prime. So, if there was a chance to take things through the proper dialogue channels, he would take them. He turned to Finn, looking to draw out some reason among the Rebel party.

“There is no time for those fleeing the planet. The senators have escaped, but what about those people down there? If you engage them in direct battle, it will be a suicide. Let us hail the ship and discuss terms.”

Finn stepped in front of Rose, angry and tired of the same discussions.

“How dare you, assume we would risk innocent lives for the sake of what? A game with the Supreme Leader? Thanks to Rose we are prepared for whatever comes...or we will die trying”

The senator was shocked. He looked to the people in the room, most of them engaged in tracking the ships, directing orders, ignoring his plea. But some kept glancing over their shoulders, scowling. It felt like they were blaming him, and that enraged him even more.

“I see what you are doing. This is nothing but vengeance, for your  _ dear _ princess. That’s it, isn’t it? You are willing to condemn innocent lives for your petty vengeance? Leia would be ashamed of what you are doing!”

Before Rose could act, Finn rammed his finger right up the senator’s nose. The man startled and took a step back, his rage abating under the cold stare of the former stormtrooper.

“How dare you? After all of what the Ten said about her? About her ancestry? How many times have we warned the New Republic about the First Order? “

There was a moment Finn wanted nothing more than to bury his fist into the senator’s face, push him down and take vengeance of all the abuse and mistreatment Leia faced from the Republic. An organisation she had sworn to defend. A Republic that gave them nothing but contempt, even when they destroyed StarKiller Base. He remembered well when they accused them of acting too late, raising the suspicion that Leia wanted to overthrow the Senate and become the single ruler, like her father once did. 

For that moment, Numa Tee thought he would have to make a quick escape. But then he saw the anger in Finn’s eyes dissipate, and all that was left was an awkward silence. He coughed and turned to the holoscreen. 

End of conversation. 

____

Dozens of TIEs were swarming around them, in a frenzy of shots and death-daring movements that rendered some envy from an experienced fighter like Poe. The fight was barely even, but so far they had been able to counterattack the primary defence system of the Destroyer.

There were two star defenders at some distance, providing assistance to the X-Wings, standing ready to shoot the Destroyer in case everything else failed - a last stand, hopeless as it was, since they knew that it wouldn’t be enough to bring that gargantuan ship down.

“Red Leader! Lookout for those TIEs on your left! I don’t want any surprises coming my way! We need to reach that cannon!”

“Copy that Black Leader”

The squadrons assembled perfectly, testing the maneuvers they have trained so many times before, with some success. But a flash to the right and a jerk from a nearby blast was enough to make things spiral out of control: the Blue squadron lost its leader and the group disassembled, flying everywhere.

“Blue team! Blue team! Do not disengage, I repeat, do not disengage! The Destroyer cannot have a clear sight to the…”

Too late. There was an ominous red glow emerging from the cannon, and a single bolt of light ripped the ether, the magnetism sending shockwaves in its path, tearing away ships like they were nothing but wisps of smoke. 

Poe was able to diverge from the canon’s destruction, and avoid an incoming TIE’s blast by swerving to the right and spinning into the Destroyer’s front end. He jerked, pushing the X-wing’s controls to the left and blasting the rear engine in order to spin the ship into the right position and stop, just in the moment the TIE pulled in front of him. Poe wasted no time shooting and blasting the enemy away. 

The light of the hit was blinding. Star Defender number one disappeared like it had never been there, incinerating everything in its blast. 

Not enough time to mourn, as Poe saw the cannon starting to shift its position in order to strike at the second defender. The TIEs were regrouping, and targeting the squadrons in sections, trying to separate them in order to take them down, one by one. Poe fell into position, dragging some of the surface canons that were mounted on top of Destroyer.

“Just like in the old days” he murmured, remembering his attack on the Fulminatrix. Again, he was small enough to clear out the canons without causing an hitch on the Destroyer, but it was enough to toss out any short range firing power of the behemoth before him. 

“Watch out Black Leader, TIE fighters coming in behind you”

Poe looked to the starboard bow and pushed the handle to the left, one hand jumping to the window, trying to counter the crushing bump that went with changing direction that quick. He exposed the underbelly of the ship enough for the TIE to risk a shot that damaged a part of the carnage. The red lights blinked and the sirens invaded the small cockpit.

“BB-8, it's your turn buddy you know the drill! Hold us long enough to shoot this parasite from my sight!”

The droid was right at home, squawking and chirping away its frustration at yet another damage to the ship he took so much time working on with Rey. He inserted the connection port into the ship’s hardware mainframe and was able to pinpoint the junction in order to repair the damage. BB-8 knew what was coming and before he did something he would regret, he extended the welding arm, repaired two fuses and then using the metal cover of one of the junction boxes pushed it directly on top of it, closing the circuits.

The red buttons turned to green and Poe shouted in relief. The blaster was fully operative as well as the radar. He turned the handle down, causing BB-8 to “scream”, bumping inside the X-Wing’s small belly. 

“Sorry buddy, I need to do this!”

To shake the TIE, he had been able to do a perfect 360, coming up on the TIE’s rear and caughting it by surprise. There was a surge of satisfaction watching the ship disassemble into the Destroyer, below.

No time, he could see the canon shifting position, to target the second Star Defender. The ominous red glow burned once more.

“Kriff my life!” he shouted “ROSE! If there was a time, the time is NOW!” 

“Copy that” a faint voice was heard saying over the com.

At the station, Rose pulsed the red button blinking on top of the holobard.

“Here goes nothing”

The signal was sent to an assault frigate that quickly replicated the signal through the mob of ships surrounding it. One by one the ships appear to double before the incredulous eyes of the Supreme Leader.

“What is the meaning of this? What is this?” he shouted, visibly angry.

The young commander turned, his eyes censoring him like his father once did.  _ What was this boy’s name? _ Hux thought. He couldn’t remember, and that made him more furious. How he wished to be able to bend necks like that mess of man that was Kylo Ren. How unfortunate that so much power could be given to someone so disgusting as a Solo?

But that was the past. He was the future.

He balled his fists, trying to hold in the fury. Calmly, he turned his head down, to the operators.

“Move the canon to the defender. I want it clear out of my sight”

The chief operator nodded, signaling the others to begin the countdown. Hux looked to the window, the swarm of ships buzzing away between the flashing and the sparks of juggling fire. He blinked, confused at the sight of the ghost ships appearing before him, apparently doubling the Rebel’s main armada.

“How are they doing this?”

He remembered the training with his father, in the Academy. Deceit, whispers, rumours. They only needed to start from one “credible” source and then spread, like wildfire. 

“They must have some sort of special cloaking device. The signal has to be strong enough to reach even the smaller fighters. Start scanning the quadrants. I smell a rat...a big one.”

“Ready to fire, Supreme Leader” a voice announced from below.

Hux gritted his teeth, anticipating another catch. He looked ahead, to the defender.

“FIRE!”

The second shot ran its course. Again, it burned away spaceships in its path, but went through the second defender. When the light receded, the defender was still there. Hux’s eyes widened. The young officer looked at him sideways, and the Supreme Leader felt his own face burning red.

“Someone will pay for this”, he hissed. 

_____

Kat was watching the streaks passing by over the window of the ship. The faces of her fallen comrades swam within those lights, and she felt reminiscent of their early days, after the fall of the Jedi temple. How freedom made them even more powerful, to be able to exercise their own will, without anyone telling them what to do or how to behave. She missed those days.

But Leia told her. She told her. And she couldn’t bring herself to tell them. And now came the hard part. Now it was up to her. Would she be able to do it? To protect him? Kat looked at the tall figure sitting in the corner of the ship, thinking and brooding over something. She tapped into their connection and saw him jerk and cock his head slightly, to look at her. 

Kat took the opportunity to project all the longing of the days past, the adventures they all had shared, the nights she had consoled him, brought him back from the brink.

She could see he was troubled by it - the twitch in the left eye was the tale. But his head moved ever so slightly, and Kat was flooded with images of the pain he had felt, even back then. Yes, they had been free, but never him - Snoke spoke to him, constantly. Drawing him into the Dark, filing him with thoughts of abandonment and resentment towards his family. And, just as suddenly, she was hit by water. There was a blue wave rushing in. A white sand beach. And there was her, Rey, standing before her. And a qualm washed over her heart like nothing she had ever felt before. 

Kat was feeling what Ben felt: his love for this girl was something that in all the years of her life she never had felt from anyone or anything. And the Force sang in an euphoria that crushed the Dark away. Kat gasped, pulling away from the vision, gripping her thighs tightly, feeling that she could topple over and fall. When she recovered from it, Ben was gone. 

____

Naomi was pushing the coordinates into the console when Rey came into the cockpit.

“How much time until we get to Chandrila?”

“Thirty minutes and counting. I have placed the coordinates for the rebel base, so it will bring us next to it.”

Hiram was sitting in the co-pilot chair, silent. The resentment and grief was palpable through the Force but, like a true Mandalorian, he was processing it inwards, making peace with the path they had been sent to travel. That was the way.

“Do you know what to do?” Naomi asked, turning to Rey.

“Don’t worry, the rebels won’t arm us. As long as we have this” she explained, presenting the cathar with the holo Finn had given her. Naomi looked at the blue button and then at Rey, with a worried look.

“I am not talking about that. I am talking about  _ him _ ” she replied, while making a motion with her chin to the back of the ship. Where Ben Solo would be. Waiting. Rey had been trying to avoid that conversation until it was absolutely necessary. 

On Resilon, their vision on Ach-Too became real,  _ standing side by side, with the crowd at their feet _ . The children, once broken, had found their hope renewed upon seeing their saviors gaze and cheered them with the words Ben had long wanted to hear. 

_ Jedi! Jedi! _

Rey was struck with the turmoil of emotions racing through Ben’s mind. Flashes of Han, of Leia, of her, until...nothing. And then he became quiet.  _ Too quiet _ .

Everytime she thought about it, she remembered their fight in the cave and the menace of what could be expecting them upon their return to base.  _ They will not accept it,  _ she had felt through the Force. He had shown her what could be, and even so he was willing to sacrifice it all, to face the consequences.

Rey felt ashamed. For her jealousy towards Kat and the way she had treated him for it, when that was something of his path as Kylo Ren. And that path was gone, he had abandoned it, to join her. She felt a tug, and saw the red thread, taught and vibrating. Sensing trouble, Rey followed it into the aft of the ship.

She stopped by one of the storage rooms and opened it. They were filled with contraband, which made her wonder what sort of life he had made with the Knights after they ran from Luke. Who had they hurt? Robbed? 

“No one that didn’t deserve it” he replied from the corner of the room.

She sighed and turned to shut the door, expecting things would escalate by the tone of his voice. 

“Worried?” he added.

“Should I be?”

He rose, slowly, until Rey could see the shape of his silhouette detaching itself from the wall and moving towards her, like a beast. There he was again: the Kylo Ren of the Supremacy, the one who had unveiled his mask before her, unafraid to show his face to a stranger he had just met. That moment still struck her again and again, unlocking strange, clashing feelings she never knew she had. Even then his presence filled the space, beyond his own body. And she felt those same immediate feelings, clashing away inside her.

“Perhaps” he murmured. 

Their bond couldn’t hide the distress that his voice had hinted. She stepped closer, pulled into that silhouette like a dark hole. Her hands reached out trying to cup his face and she felt his hands, giant, closing around her thin wrists.

“Tell me”, she pleaded.

His dark eyes glittered, their minds drinking the anxiety that permeated their bond. It was almost unbearable. Rey felt the thread stretching into breaking point until finally he exhaled and rested his forehead to hers.

“I can’t see it”

“What?”

He slid his hands from her wrists to her shoulders, and down her back, hugging her closer. Her body molded naturally to his form. His body felt hard as rock and feverish. 

“The future”

Rey stood very still. She too had tapped into the Force, seeking enlightenment for their journey ahead. How would they be greeted? Would arms be open, or bearing weapons and violence? Prosecution? Would they allow their help? But all she got was a thin veil over shadows and whispers.

“We can’t let fear cloud our judgement or our will” she whispered, feeling his fingers spread over her back, making her remember Canto Bight and his plea. She could feel his heartbeat through flesh and fabric. 

“The Dark surrounds me Rey. I know what that means.”

Her own heart leapt in response, not wanting to face the reality of what he was saying. The twitch turned into a trembling, and she allowed a small whimper of fear to escape her lips. He gently forced her to be still, to be able to look at her face properly. He smiled briefly, watching her come to grips with the fact that the future he had seen for them, back at the cave, might not come to be. 

“You will survive. I know it.”

She held her breath: it was  _ his _ future that he couldn’t see. The words caught in her throat when his gaze became soft and tender, soothing her.

“Even if they let me help...my place is not there. It never was”

She fidgeted, feeling angry at him, wanting to slap him, to hit him, to make him regret his words and what they meant. He grabbed her wrists again, sensing her intent, and the veins in his neck stood out. Rey remembered that face well, when Kylo Ren would shake and spit venomous words. She braced herself to fight.

“Whatever happens, I will find you. If it takes me a thousand years to pay for what I did, I will endure that punishment. And when I stand before the Father, I will tell him:  _ let me see her and I will endure this pain for a thousand years more. _ ”

Rey felt like the floor was suddenly missing beneath her feet. All of her was prepared to fight him and his resolve. But instead, he cupped her face with trembling hands, his eyes burning her through, driving home his promise.

“...And I  _ will _ come back to you, sweetheart”

The Force began humming, drawing them together like magnets. The room shook when they locked eyes, and a desire erupted: unrepentant, powerfull, and compelling. Her lips crushed against his, forcing his mouth open to taste him more deeply, sealing the promises made. He quickly pushed her to the wall, his body pinning her whole, while his hands slid down to her thighs. 

She found the belt of his pants and loosened it, shoving her hand in to feel him, hard and pulsing against her palm. Ben moaned, feeling her hand gripping his sex just like she would have grabbed her lightsaber, making it hers and hers alone. He pushed her head to the side, his lips tracing the contour of her neck, his nose taking in her scent one last time.

Rey felt her cheeks wet, realising she had been crying the whole time, the pain muffled by the desire that encased them both and was carrying them into the inevitable. 

“I am not ready to lose you”, she kept saying, or thinking, everything was becoming distorted, the Light and the Dark dancing in a fever. She remembered the shadows - hers and his - dancing on the cave wall, their arms stretched and twisted in an embrace, the power she had felt. The power that she was feeling now.

Her slacks had been discarded, tossed aside like a shed skin and her legs were surrounding him again, he was hard, ready, rubbing against her. She was holding onto his shoulders, taut like marble, while one of his hands spread above her, supporting them both against the wall.

“They will feel us” she whispered hoarsely, her eyes heavy with desire. His other hand closed around her jaw, and his eyes drank her lips, and his breath, aroused, caressed her face. 

“Let them” 

He took her in one swift motion, making her cry in ecstasy. He gasped, his body shivering from the sudden connection, feeling their joining spill into their bond, the thread welcoming them once more, tightening them. He crushed his weight against her, forcing her to take him, pushing it further still. The pain was mingled with the joy of pleasure, rippling like the waves from the beach where she had saved him.

“Give it to me” she confessed into his ear, with each push, each drive that made her back brush hardently against the wall. It was only them, no knights of Ren, no ship, no war. Just them, in that close space that was freedom, that was forever: even if it was just for a moment.

The rhythm of his strokes became more aggressive, more powerful with each thrust. He felt her willing, dripping with an aching pleasure, that was his as well. He quickened his pace, the sighs and moans dropping freely from their lips.

She wanted to see his face, and stroke away the black-raven hair. A razor sharp stare of the predator pierced through, the pupils so open and wide she thought his eyes were nothing but two holes where all light would sink into. But seeing her face made him slow down, his stare melting into Ben once more.

“Harder” she gasped, wanting more of him, the whole of him, to calm the desire coiling inside “Make me you”

Ben moaned, his crave insatiable, his body tense with the wanting of giving her all that he could. They were close, she could feel it now. That bittersweet release, where they offered their climax to the Force, making them more united than ever. An union that could surpass the infinity, the world beyond worlds, defy the Force and lay galaxies bare. 

The friction became electric, she felt him whole, hard and unrepentant. Her breath caught, trapped in her chest, as the waves of her orgasm invaded her and broke everything in its path. The tightness of her made him erupt, with a powerful rush, and he ripped it into the Force, joining her in that sweet destruction.

How powerful it was; how glorious it was. The promise of what could be.

Ben was panting, breathless. Lips, swollen. He looked at her,  _ his other self _ , as if there was nothing else. His eyes wavered, full to the brim.

“Rey…” he uttered, quietly, the three following words suspended in mid air.

She looked at him,  _ her other self _ , knowing that could be their last time.

“I know”

____

“Captain, there is an unauthorized ship hailing us”

Rose turned to the holoscreen and pushed the image to the main console. It was a smuggler’s frigate that was clear. Her trained eye could identify all the additions made do it and, for a moment, recognized the hand of Han Solo in it. Chewie growled beside her, recognizing the ship and making gestures.

“Ok, Ok! Easy big guy”, Finn replied before turning to Rose “Could it be?”

“Unidentified ship, please respond”

There was a moment of silence and statics before a familiar voice came through the speakers.

“I hope we are not late”

Finn reached for Rose’s shoulder while everyone around them held their breaths. D’Acy grabbed her vest, feeling washed in relief: hope came, at last. Finn could not contain the joy in his voice: he was practically screaming at the com.

“We are damn glad to hear from you! The fleet is on full attack, the Destroyer has fired...”

“I have brought  _ help _ ”

Finn paused, noticing the hint in Rey’s voice. So it was true, all of it. She glanced at Rose first: her face was solid, like a mask, not betraying her heart and what she thought of the  _ help _ . Finn glanced at Chewbacca, who nodded, looking over his shoulder to the senator sitting in the background, who was following the exchange with interest. 

Of course he had heard of the scavenger girl, supposedly the last of the jedi, trained by Luke and Leia themselves. He knew the interest of the First Order on the girl, supposedly the one who had struck down Snoke and allowed Kylo Ren to become the head of the faction. At least, he had that in common with them: Numa Tee shared the dislike and suspicion of jedis, long lost relics of an ancient, corrupt Republic that had cost them endless wars. And always the shadow of Darth Vader hung above them and the Skywalker family, like a reminder of how thin it was the line between Light and Darkness. 

Finally, Rose’s stare became somber, but decided, as she pressed the button for the lower levels. “Clear the landing bay” Rose ordered, before turning to Finn in a low voice “You need to meet them before things get out of hand. Act quickly” she hinted at Numa Tee, who was still watching them intently. Finn nodded slightly and felt his blaster solid in its holster. He turned to Chewie and signaled to the door.

Finn ran to the lift followed closely by Chewbacca. The doors closed before Numa Tee could reach them.

____

The ramp descended, the vapour hissing out, releasing the pressure from the lightspeed evaporators. The noise mingled with the cacophony of lights and sirens of X-Wings coming in for repairs, of the pilots rushing from a broken ship to a new one, to dive once more into battle. Finn considered it to be just a matter of time before the First Order would find the hidden base and attack.

Rey ran down the ramp and into her friend's arms. Finn hugged her, an ease spreading over him, at last. His friend was home, safe and in one piece. 

“We secured the code inside the Destroyer”, she said, not waiting for his question.

“The Destroyer still needs to fire two more times…”

Finn didn’t finish his sentence. Instead, he watched the group walking down the ramp into the landing bay, all dressed in black, except for the mandalorian, whose deep grey armour was covered in dents and blaster shots. There was a beautiful white-haired woman that made the former stormtrooper gasp in astonishment. She stared down at him, and then proceeded to ignore him completely. 

But it was the figure behind her that sent Fin’s blood pressure shot up high. Ben Solo stepped forward, towering over them all. Finn instinctively reached for the grip of his gun and turned the switch into fire mode, but before he could draw a move, there was a wild roar and Chewie appeared out of nowhere, punching Ben full in the chest, making the former knight of Ren fall and slide down the floor, gasping for air.

The remaining knights reached for their weapons, and the commotion drew attention from the operators, drawn by the bellows of the wookie. Chewbacca crouched over Ben and started shaking him and roaring at his face. He was so close, that Rey thought that he was about to bite Ben whole.

She ran to the two, fighting on the floor. The wookie was a giant, but Ben was big enough to put up some form of fight, and he was ready to use his powers, if necessary. He forced Chewbacca to move to the side with a direct blow to his stomach. The wookie rolled backwards and was surprisingly quick to stand, his arms agitated, hands balled into fists. Ben was able to shuffle backwards, away from the fury giant, who continued to growl and snarl at him.

Rey and Finn came to stand between them.

“Stop it!”

There was a pause before Chewie started howling and wailing. Rey winced, trying to understand what he was saying. 

_ “ I lost a friend, my best friend, my brother. And you made me shoot you. Someone I cared for, someone I vowed Leia I would protect. How could you?” _

Rey glanced back at Ben, who was still sitting on the floor, trying to catch his breath. He signaled the knights to stand down, releasing some of the tension between the two groups. Each growl and grunt of the wookiee felt like a dagger, nesting perfectly in every crack of regret that Ben carried with him. But instead of resenting it, he felt the words filling each of the cracks instead of widening them.

Chewie had been a second father to him. When Leia and Han fought, or when he was left alone to Snoke’s medling, Chewbacca had been the one to truly sense his turmoil. Ben remembered the nights, when his parents were away in some business for the Republic, the wookiee would be in his room, watching over him, waking him up from his nightmares and lulling him into a dreamless slip.

Ben stood up and started walking towards his estranged uncle. He took the steps firmly and consistently, without hesitating, accepting the angry shouts and bellows of the fury beast, passing by Rey and avoiding her surprised stare, until he was just two steps away from him. By now, Chewbacca had stopped shouting and was observing Ben: the way he walked, the way he moved. Anger gave way to confusion and hesitation.

“Kylo Ren is no more”

“ _ And you think that is enough?” _

“I don’t “

Silence. Chewbacca glanced at Finn first, and then at Rey and the lightsaber she carried on her waist. He moved to look at the strange figures that stood behind her: they looked like pirates, but then again, not. The white haired woman was gripping her weapon and watching his every move.

“Someone once taught me it’s not wise to upset a Wookiee. I am sorry that I did.”

That caught Chewie by surprise, and made him stagger a little. It was Han’s advice to anyone who decided to take him on as an opponent, in any activity, being fun or fighting. Han knew of his temperament. But he was never angry at Ben. Not at Ben. His little starfighter.

“ _ We wanted nothing more than to bring you back to us. You were loved, Ben. _ ”

Ben swallowed deeply. His throat hurt and his eyes burned. When Chewie moved closer, he remained frozen in place. The wookiee bent a little, and sniffed him. The smell of his fur and the musk broke through the layers of memories, and Ben felt he was back in his room at the palace on Naboo, being cradled to sleep in those giant fury arms. Satisfied, the wookie stood up, observing Ben’s face and hair, his clothes, until finally he bellowed a statement. 

Everyone was silent until Rey tried to suppress a laugh. Ben was confused and looked to his clothes, the old republic uniform that she had made him wear back in the cave.

“Scruffy-looking?” Ben mumbled, inquisitively. He saw a glitter in the wookiee’s eye, something that he thought never to see again. A warm feeling settled in his heart, the cracks mending at each low purr of mirth coming from the giant before him.

The moment was interrupted by shouts and a clutter of boots running down the landing bay. 

“Arrest them!” Numa Tee shouted to a group of confused guards, all armoured to the teeth. Hiram reached for the back and removed his long barrel blaster, pressing the switch to charge the gun. Kat drew her sword and they all moved quickly to surround and cover Ben, directing the Force at Chewbacca, causing him to shout and stumble a few steps back. Finn ran towards the senator, while the guards surrounded the party, getting ready to engage in combat.

“What is the meaning of this? This is our ship, we make our rules. You have no jurisdiction here!”

Numa Tee grabbed Finn’s arm and pulled him close.

“This is not a common criminal we are talking about. We can use him to our advantage, to force the First Order to enter into negotiations”

“They won’t negotiate,” Ben answered, pushing his companions aside and walking towards Finn and the Senator. He stopped, and turned to his left, looking straight into the eyes of one of the soldiers. A young boy, maybe sixteen. His eyes spoke of death, of his parents wiped out by StarKiller on Hosnian Prime. Spoke of hate and fear. His finger quivered on the trigger, hitching to fire.

Ben’s eyes opened wide, as the young soldier took the shot, only to be followed by the remaining party rest of the soldiers that were accompanying the senator.

There was a flash, a shout, and the rain of blaster fire was suddenly frozen midway, warping and buzzing, unable to reach its target. Ben and Rey stood before them, side by side, the Force palpable, warping through the people present. They were surrounded by an ominous light, emanating from the trembling lasers, making them glow in an eerie way.

Numa Tee gasped at the demonstration of the Force, and his orders died in his throat. Finn was flabbergasted, his heart racing, his lungs aching from the adrenaline pumping through his veins.

Rey made a gesture with her hand and the lasers evaporated before them, the energy dissipating in the air, leaving a smell of ozone among the small crowd, now paralyzed. Numa Tee took the chance to push the soldiers forward.

“What are you waiting for? Arrest them!”

There was a roar and Chewie charged, ramming the soldiers down and quickly grabbing Numa Tee by his neck, raising him a few feet from the ground. The senator gasped, reaching for the wookiees’ hands, trying to loosen his grip. It was pointless. Finn ran to his friend, trying to calm him down.

“You went off and rattled him! That is no way to handle a wookiee, senator”, he shouted rather mischievously. Numa Tee made squeaking sounds, trying to speak without success. Finn placed a hand over Chewie’s arm and slowly calmed him down. He dropped the Senator to the floor with a loud thump, bellowing at him angrily.

“He’s saying let them help, you nerf herder”, Finn added while looking over his shoulder at Rey and winking. She smiled, thankful for her friend who was always by her side. 

The soldiers calmed down and slowly disbanded, hurrying to their posts in order to continue assisting the ships, which never stopped coming in. Ben approached the small group, looking over the senator still gasping on the floor.

“You...are a criminal...You must pay...for...for what you did” he kept saying.

Ben was quiet. His face settled into his passive mask. Only Rey and the Knights could feel his emotions. The scavenger shivered.

“They killed my mother. Let me fight” he said, looking at Chewie. After a moment, the wookie nodded. He turned to the back of the bay, and Ben followed his gaze until he saw what he was meant to see.

The Falcon.

____

“He knows”

One could call it a gut feeling. But the movement in the Destroyer’s position was enough for Poe to know that Hux had found something. 

“All teams ready!”

There were too many ships scurrying from the fight, trying to regroup at base, leaving the main ships unprotected.

“Do not go back! I repeat: do not go back, that is an order!”

“We are bleeding out here Black Leader! We are losing too many pilots!”

Poe knew that, he wasn’t blind - that was what he wanted to say but stopped. BB-8 was frantically sending him messages through the holoboard on his right, showing the X-wings and A-wings going down, and with them their doppelgangers. Simply put: the First Order had more ships and they were quickly gaining on them.

Poe saw one of the smaller ships navigating in a series of loops and twists, right between the different class TIEs that had been deployed against them. Poe’s eyes widened, listening to the chirps and beeps of BB-8: that was the ship distributing the signal that allowed the mirror device to work.

“Look out, look out, look out!” 

Poe dived into a corkscrew loop, much to BB-8’s discontent, as he could hear him pouncing and shouting in the back. Poe engaged in a short round laserfire over the TIE’s that were chasing the small battle cruiser. He was able to successfully shoot one down, while one of the Green squad was able to do a flyover and shot two more. But still, there were too many of them - Hux knew the ship was carrying the signal, it had to be.

“BB-8, see if we can jam the scanners of the Destroyer! Hux is going to track the signal to its source”

Too late. Poe saw the red glow of the cannon, and in the same instant, the TIEs disengaged the pursuit of the ship, flourishing away at an impressive speed. There was only time to push the controls down.

“DIVE!”

The Green squad was trapped, caught between the small assault ship and the cannon. Everything felt like it was in slow motion. The flash, the bright white light, the warping sound of the energy, ripping away the vacuum and then the void that was felt in the end, as the tension of destruction quietly faded away into the unknown space.

Poe felt the sting of tears rushing in. He thought of Connix, far away, safe with the Senators. He remembered his dream, his mother and Leia, embracing him. Telling him to trust the Force. His soul quieted, for a moment.  _ At least _ , he thought,  _ some hope will survive _ . 

____

“GOT IT!” he exclaimed, triumphantly, his fist punching the air in victory. He noticed the other commanders staring and he quickly resumed his composure. He hated those stares. As soon as he was done with those pesky insects, maybe it would be interesting to get rid of a few bugs inside the First Order as well.

Suddenly, the game was changed once again, as almost half of the rebel fleet was lost bit by bit from the main holoboard of the Destroyer. Hux started laughing as the ghost ships began disappearing from sight and the TIE’s were, once again, in advantage. He delighted in watching the small drones finally getting their targets - their  _ real _ targets - once more.

“Supreme Leader, we have successfully destroyed the last relay of the signal, we are now tracing the main source”

“Don’t stop! I want the main ship found!!” he shouted, angrily.

The young officer looked at the holoboard and then at the blue planet to the left.

“Supreme Leader, it would be wise not to disengage from our main target, we should move towards the city of Chandrila…”

Hux raised his hand and his nostrils flared at the audacity. He was growing tired of that  _ boy’s _ meddling.

“And lose the chance to incinerate the Resistance? To do what the mighty Kylo Ren couldn’t?” He stepped closer, his lips drawn together into a thin line across his pasty skin. His eyes were shot red and glistening with hatred. “I will destroy the Rebel scum, just like I did with Leia Organa. And then everyone will bow to the true Supreme Leader - I WANT THE BASE FOUND NOW!”

“Supreme Leader, there is a ship hailing us, a Katooni cruiser, Sir”

Hux walked towards the radar and looked at the code link, while the red light kept blinking like mad. 

“It’s Krin” Hux mumbled, recognizing the signal. If Krin was there it couldn’t be good news. He wouldn’t leave Resilon and his private bounty of warriors for nothing. “I want a private line - and keep tracking that signal”

The operator handled him the holo device which he connected to his ear. There was a faint static noise before the image of Krin appeared within the holo. He was even more strange looking than his usual self.

“What is it? Can’t you see that I am in the middle of something?” Hux raised his voice so that anyone could hear how he handled pirate filth. He was winning, at last.

“Wipe that smile off your face. I just came to give you a message before I head out”

The Supreme Leader raised an eyebrow. 

“Your  _ boy _ is back”

Hux smile faded from his face. “What  _ boy _ ? What are you talking about?”

“Solo”

That name. That  _ name _ , that seemed to haunt him forever, to stand in the way of everything he ever wanted: unlimited power. Why was it so hard to kill him? For a moment, Hux could only stand there, speechless and trembling in frustration. It had been so easy to kill him off on the Supremacy: how many times he had relieved that moment in his dreams? The blaster in his hand, brains splattered on the floor.

“We have found the source signal, Supreme Leader. It’s coming from one of the east moons”

His hand shot up to the red button, and his voice echoed throughout the Destroyer.

“All ships, we move to the moon immediately. I want them all dead!”

____

Rey watched Kat, Hiram and Naomi enter the Falcon with long and sure-footed strides. It shouldn’t make her feel jealous, but it did. Kat would be beside him, seeing his destiny unfold.

“Why can’t I go with you?”

He glanced at Finn, who was running towards the elevator that led to the operations deck. Before the doors closed, he looked at Ben: no, FN 2187 would never trust him. He would get him in chains just like the senator. But for the sake of Rey and of Leia, he would wait. 

“They need all the pilots they can get”, Ben answered, solemnly.

She grabbed his arm, forcing him to look at her. Her eyes burned with desperation. She felt powerless before his decision and what was coming, and wanted to give one last chance to her anger for such a fate.

“This can’t be it. It just can’t be. There has to be more!”

Ben recognised that tone of voice. It spoke of ancient times and prophecies fulfilled.

“I was someone without hope. You reached out and took my hand...” he paused, his lower lip quivering, remembering that luminous feeling of being loved again “...and I knew, so long as I was with you, I was on the right path”

Her chest filled with air, cool and soothing. For a moment, she smelled the sea. It was but a fleeting moment, drowned by the sounds of war and the anguish it came from the possibility of that moment to be turned into nothing more than a memory.

“We can stop it”

He smiled. There was nothing more he could say. Ben moved his hand, hesitating for a moment before tucking away a lock of Rey’s hair. It was such an oddity: a mountain, with such a gentle touch.

“It would be the same mistake my grandfather did. We must trust the Force, Rey”

Leia had spoken those same words. But how could she trust it, before so much uncertainty and horror before them? She saw the wounded men and women, the mangled ships, the blasts of light that were visible from beyond the shield of defence. 

Rey grabbed his arms, sinking her fingers into them, battling the need to have him inside of her again, as if she could trap him. He could feel her intent, the Dark surrounding her, the Light fuelling it and making his head spin.

“Rey”, he protested.

“Stay with me” she pleaded, shutting her eyes. To be able to bend space and time, to wish that they could be somewhere far, far away from that place. He embraced her, and she disappeared into his body, wanting to melt into him, to be part of him, forever. 

Ben kissed the crown of her head, and whispered low enough to be out of earshot.

_ “I love you, Rey of Jaku” _

And as suddenly as he had embraced her, he was gone, running towards the Falcon. Rey stood there, watching him go and feeling their red thread spinning, stretching, becoming thinner as he moved away from her. 

____

Ben punched the door open and he was confronted with the familiar smell of the Falcon, taking him back to the days where he would play hide and seek with Chewbacca, or looking for the sweets his father would bring from his trips. 

“I will check the main computer, see if it wants to talk to us or not”, Kat announced, not waiting for Ben to answer. Hiram and Naomi were already moving to the main shaft, leading them into the laser cannons.

He glanced down the corridor and decided to go around the ship. He stopped by his father’s room: the bed was still neatly made and there were some clothes in the nook where Lando used to keep all his famous capes. There were voices, shadows and whispers surrounding him. 

He continued full circle, passing by the dejarik board and into the cockpit. There were ships coming in and out, in a frenzy of desperation; but he only felt that qualm that came before a fight. 

He sat on the pilot’s seat, the skin crackling with the sound of thousands of trips and adventures. He looked at the controls, the buttons, the switches. Despite some modifications, things were pretty much as he remembered them; they  _ felt _ the same, sounded the same, the same faded, smudged colors. He knew each nook and crack. 

He felt a tightness in his chest, thinking how many times he had wished that the Falcon would blow out of the sky; the hatred he felt every time he saw his father fly away from home. But now, his heart jumps in excitement with the prospect of piloting it: he really had too much of his father’s heart in him.

As his eyes roamed the switchboard, he looked up: and there they were, the gold still shining bright under the bay’s lights. He tethered between pain and joy.

_ “This is where you belong, kid. It was worth it. You are home.” _

He inhaled sharply and held it, as his telltale tremor went from his eyes to his lips, trapping a sob and a sigh. The words came as if Han was standing right there, behind him. He turned back, expecting to see him.

“Dad”, he called, letting the words escape in a breath of hope.

There was nothing but the lights of the motherboard blinking and an odd buzzing and clicking sound coming through the main intercom, just beside the door.

“You said something?” he overheard Kat shouting from the back. 

Ben was disappointed for a moment. He pursed his lips before finally turning to sit on the captain’s chair and begin the procedure, as quickly as he could, as a way to erase the experience from his mind and not be troubled by it. 

As his eyes looked onto the outside, he saw Rey running in an orange pilot’s suit that was too big for her. He paused and allowed himself to laugh, watching her battling with the baggy attire. It was such a little, mundane thing. The type of things he didn’t know how to enjoy for a very long time.

His smile turned into awestruck sorrow and despair, and he couldn’t help to place his hand on the glass, wanting to feel that palm on his, that jolt of electricity running through his fingertips, his arm into his heart. He was afraid: afraid of losing her, of never seeing her again. He had toyed with the idea to take her by force and run, never looking behind. But that was not the way: he had to accept his fate, whatever it was. Now he understood what Luke had meant.

_ Confronting fear is the destiny of a Jedi. _

Kat felt wave after wave of belonging, emanating from the Force. She closed her eyes, trying to focus on the task: the power vortex was acting up, but it was enough to hold on for what came next. She shuddered, thinking about how everything was happening just as Leia described.

_ “He will go home. He will fight. And his fate will be decided by the Force….and you”  _

_ Lady Organa stepped closer to Kat, placing a hand on her shoulder. _

_ “You know what needs to be done” _

Yes, she knew what needed to be done. And what it could cost them. 

Kat got up and walked into the cockpit. She stopped by the threshold, looking down on the former Knight of Ren, wondering if they were brought together simply for the reason to walk that path together. He was ready, his hand closing on the commands and pushing them forward, making the Falcon roar into life.

“Solo, we need to talk”

_____

Rey wasn’t ready for the future of clouds and whispers promised by the Force. In her mind, she could only hear his voice, whispering in her ear after their fierce lovemaking.

_ Whatever comes, I will find you. _

Chewie came to stand beside her, and placed an arm around her shoulders, trying to offer the little confort that he could. To have found his Starfighter again and then to lose him the next moment: his heart was breaking twice. For Han and for himself.

The engines of the Falcon erupted into life and Rey nodded, resolute, and turned around to walk in the direction of the battle cruiser, parked in the other corner of the landing bay. She was followed closely by Chewbacca.

“What are you doing?”, she said over her shoulder.

“ _ I am coming with _ ”

Rey stopped rather suddenly and turned to face her friend.

“No you are not. If anything goes wrong, you will need to protect Rose and Finn. They will be our only hope to continue fighting”

Chewbacca chuckled before cocking his head to the side. 

“ _ You really think he would let you go without me? _ ”

She frowned, trying to understand why Ben would place Chewbacca in such a position.

_ You will survive, I know it. _

Rey realized that Chewie was in the glimpses of the future Ben had seen. And Chewie had to be there, by her side, to make sure she was safe. To make sure…

“...that I don’t do anything foolish, is that right?”

Chewbacca nodded, confirming her thoughts. Ben would not take any chance of Rey doing something that would risk her life, and Chewbacca was the safeguard for that. He would not put Rey in danger, that was certain. 

“Listen to me furball. I love you, you know that, but I am not going to stand by watching him die, you understand that?”

His friend eyed her sideways until he finally shrugged his shoulders and pushed Rey gently forward, directing her towards the ship. He kept mumbling behind her.

_ “Who’s she calling furball? As if I would stand watching Starfighter die...not in a million parsecs would I…” _

Rey smiled entering the cruiser and sitting on the pilot’s chair. She passed her hands through the switches and knobs. Chewie sat beside her, adjusting the headset and cursing his decision of lending the Falcon to Ben - it would be so much easier to adjust the damn thing. 

Laser, check. Radar, check. Coms, check. Weapons, check. The click and the hum of everything connecting filled Rey’s heart with resolve. She heard a familiar voice over the com, as she took control over the ship.

“Rey, it’s Rose”

Rey hesitated. She wanted to be happy and cheer her friend, but the stress in her voice was evident as well as the shouts and commotion she heard in the back. In front of her, a loud noise signaled that the Falcon was now leaving the bay.

“What is going on Rose?”, Rey asked while she followed the path of the Corelian ship, her heart beating faster, yearning to go after the thread before it was too late.

“Finn caught the Senator trying to issue a random distress call in the holonet, to negotiate terms of surrender. He wanted to offer...the scavenger and a deserter in return for a ceasefire”

Rey punched the controls and the ship came to life. Chewbacca bellowed, fixing his belt and pushing the controls of the laser cannon front and center. He was feeling trigger-happy.

“I’ll give them two jedis instead,” she snarled, pushing the command forward. The ship roared loudly across the bay and flew on the trail of the Millenium Falcon. It quickly orbited around the large moon to get the perfect slingshot push it needed to propel her forward, directly into the frey.

“Chewie, punch in the coordinates of the Falcon, I don’t want to lose it!”

As the battle came into view, Chewie roared in distress: the Destroyer was navigating in their direction, the TIE’s swarming in front, like a pack of hunters scaring off its prey. Soon, they would orbit the moon and the base would be in clear site to fire. 

“There! There he is!” She pointed at the horizon, the round shape of the Falcon clearly visible, coming out and around one of the small moons and rapidly dashing through the enemies, in true Solo style, the canons hardly missing their targets. 

“Rey, welcome back”

Poe’s tired voice felt like a splinter. She had left him behind, along with what could have been, and she carried that guilt locked away in a corner of her mind. But now, hearing him, she felt all that guilt rushing in.

“Poe...are you alright?”

The pilot smiled and bit his lower lip, wincing. He wanted to tell her that he had doubted her intent. That he had failed to trust her judgement and the Force. But now it wasn’t the time to do that. “I am glad to hear you” he finally answered. That was enough for Rey to quiet and Chewbacca grunted at the exchange.

“He is after the base. We just need one more shot”

One more shot for them to be free, but a shot that could cost them everything. If Hux knew where the base was, he could try to destroy it before the code triggered the self destruct sequence. And even that was not certain: the cannon had to fire.

“We need to engage him somehow”

“We are outnumbered. The TIE’s are just too many and I am losing fighters left and right”

Rey instantly tried to find the Falcon, but it was nowhere to be seen. He had disappeared from radar. There was a moment of incredulity: no, she had to have felt it, in the Force, she had to.

“Where is he Chewie?”

The wookie bellowed, bringing down one of the TIE fighters coming in directly at them, before switching the array. Nothing. Rey‘s heart began to beat faster as she tapped into the Force, to see if she could reach Ben, to anticipate his moves, to help him - just like in Supremacy.

What she met was a wall of pure energy, vast and wide, surrounding everything. After the initial shock, Rey tried to break through, but everytime it felt like being striked by lightning. He was pushing her back, denying her access. Her voice broke, out of incredulity and disbelief.

“Chewbacca, I...can’t feel Ben”

Panic settled further deep, stirring the feelings she had willingly locked away. Had he lied to her? Decided to escape and prevent her from following? Abandon them? The Dark in her twisted, the word “betrayal” emerging. From the bowls of the past came a voice, dripping with hate and malice, whispering words already once said.

_ What you saw. What you felt. What he said. It was all a lie. A ruse. A weakness.  _

_ Your weakness.  _

She pushed the controls forward, despite Chewie’s protests, screaming until her lungs seemed to explode in her chest. The ship took a barrel dive over a swarm of TIE fighters, and the blast of the lasers firing was so loud inside her ears that it muffled the sound of her screams. Chewie was roaring - scared, exhilarated, angry all at the same time. Rey pushed the controls further still, forcing the ship to round back and then forward, directly into the front of the Destroyer. All she could see was the monster, emerging from the waves before her, rearing up its ugly, scabbed head, the gargantuan mouth open as if to eat them entirely. Her hatred, the dark, made into living flesh, guts and all. 

But suddenly, the Falcon ripped through it, as if by magic. Rey gasped, startled, her eyes like saucers, following the ship which glowed eerily under the rain of laserfire. It looped above them, and then turned its engines on full power, placing it directly on the path of the Destroyer and of its cannon. 

“What is that maniac doing?” Poe blurted over the com.

After that moment of shock, Rey took hold of the controls again, panic subsiding, with a large wookiee grunting like mad beside her. At that exact moment, Ben’s voice sounded loud and clear over the com.

_ “I will handle this” _

____

“The Destroyer will appear on the horizon in ten minutes, commander” D’Acy spoke a little too loudly. She was nervous, remembering the tales of the Death Star, rising above the horizon on Yavin Prime, ready to destroy the planet and incinerate the galaxy into submission. This was no Death Star, but it was a powerful, maneuverable machine. They could be making hundreds of them, thousands. Rose shivered: it was getting close.

“Rose, Rose, you must get to the escape pods, there is still time!” Finn was pleading with her, but what he got back was a snort.

“I remember when I caught you trying to escape...you coward” she added, smiling. Finn smiled painfully, knowing fully well that Rose would not budge her post. She was like that: loyal until the end. He had learned much from her. “Don’t worry. It will be alright”

“What do you mean? We can’t move the base as quickly as the Destroyer”

“I know that. Get the most people out, please Finn”

He looked at her, wondering what she could mean. She held her necklace, the other half had disappeared with her sister. Her face was set, resolute.

“Are you going to pull a Holo on me? Rose!” Finn grabbed her arms, and Rose winced at the tightness of his grip “Rose, we can run, let the base go with the Destroyer!”

“We don’t know if it will work, Finn. I need to be here, I need to” Rose thought of her sister Paige. How she had sacrificed herself for the greater good. And always she had felt that she was bound to have the same fate, like the two sides of her necklace. “There is no time. We need to get everyone out now!” she shouted, pushing him “D’Acy, take the Senator and the high guard please! Evacuate now, that is an order!”

Numa Tee was in the corner, wrists bound together, and he shot up in the direction of the elevator, shouting “You are reckless! Reckless! Why didn’t you let me negotiate terms? Now all is lost”

D’Acy followed suit, along with every crew member of the command bridge. Rose pushed the buzzer of the alarm, and the room became bright red. 

“Go, Finn, go and save Rey. You must live to fight another day. That is how we win, remember? Saving what you love?” 

Finn felt like he was being washed away in a great current. The look Rose gave him was so devastatingly painful, that he couldn’t breathe. His heart raced, and for a moment he was back on Crait and Rose was in his arms, not moving. He felt dread at her imminent loss. He pulled the surprised mechanic and hugged her close. She held him back.

“I can never leave you” he whispered “And I never will”

The bridge was empty, bathed in the ominous red glow that tainted them with impending doom. But for Finn, there was nowhere else he would rather be. He gently cupped Rose’s jaw, and kissed her. Her lips felt like silk, sliding over his. 

_ I am saved. _

____

Rey was shaking while Chewie kept bellowing words, commanding her to move. She felt the Dark in her pouncing again, wanting to get free, to lash out. Rey was holding the commands with such force, the plastoid was starting to break and the shards were piercing her skin.

_ No, no, what is he doing?  _

She kept striking against that wall in the Force, but there was no way through. It was powerful and massive, unsurmountable. 

Poe was shouting orders over the com, before turning his ship into a 180 dive that would place him behind the Falcon. A TIE tried to intercept him, almost ramming against.

“WATCH OUT, WATCH OUT!” he screamed.

The TIE exploded almost on top of him, cleared away by Chewie. But with the blast so close, Poe’s fighter took the aftershock in full, taking heavy damage on the fuselage. He looked up to the crack forming on the window, the lights flashing warning signals left and right while BB-8 was shouting orders to return to base. 

“NO! NO! I won’t”

“Poe don’t be stupid!” Rey shouted, angry tears roaming the corner of her eyes, the plastoid shards sinking into her fingertips like needles. The pain and the fear inside her wanted to have control, but she would not let it. “Go back to the base! I will cover the Falcon”

Poe kept looking at the Corelian ship, the Destroyer closer than ever. What was he going to do against that? He looked at the remaining squadron: outnumbered, but fighting still.

“Go back! Protect the base!”

She was right. He knew that. 

“All squadrons retreat to base! We must defend it, at all costs”

One by one, the ships began circling back, trying to bring down as many TIEs as they could in the process. Poe looked at the cracked window, as Rey’s ship passed him by. 

“Good luck Rey” he whispered, hoping that she could hear him. He was so tired.

Suddenly, Ben’s voice echoed again.

_ “Hello Huxley” _

There was an eerie silence when the voice of Kylo Ren echoed through the Destroyer’s speakers. Everyone froze in place, the glances of uncertainty hurrying from one operator to another, until they found the young commander. 

“Su...Supreme Leader. It’s Kylo Ren. He’s not dead?”

The tone of the question denounced perplexity, but Hux could also sense some...joy? He turned to the young officer, eyes wide and shot red with rage, teeth bare in a snarl. He looked like an animal ready to bite, so much so that the officer took a step back and raised his hands. 

“That is NOT Kylo Ren. That is a traitor of the Order!” he announced, foaming with fury.

Everyone was shifting uneasily on their seats. Kylo Ren had died a hero, chasing the Rebels that wanted chaos, piracy and crime to remain unchecked. They had set out to complete a simple task and avenge his death: destroy the New Republic, refound the centre of the Galaxy’s power, start anew, without corruption, with conformity. That was the First Order’s way. The right way. The only way. 

“Kylo Ren? Kill Snoke? That’s impossible!” he replied, with a hint of indignation at such presumption.

Hux sneared. Young, handsome, reminiscent of his father….yes, that man had to be disposed of. He stepped closer, looking into the officer’s face and wanting nothing more than to dig his nails into that skin and rip it open. “Are you doubting the words of your one, true, Supreme Leader?” 

Over the com the whole ship could hear Ben Solo, laughing.

“Are you listening to that? Hear the scorn of a man that killed your Supreme Leader Snoke. A monster.”

Ben stopped laughing and there was an eerie moment of silence. Everyone held their breath, expecting a defence to the accusation. 

_ “Yes, I am”  _

The confession was met with surprise by everyone, except Hux who smiled, feeling his actions vindicated. Shock and resentment spread like wildfire among the commanding bay. Operators turned to their closest companions, whispering. How could that be? Snoke was immortal, powerful with the Force. More than Kylo Ren, right? 

Soon, the mood in the room started to change. Instead of resentment, Hux started seeing fear in everyone’s eyes. His smile and confidence faded.

“Fear? Fear? You are afraid of him?” he mocked, pointing at the Falcon, a glowing dot in the distance “Of that? A puny ship that served smugglers, pirates...the filth of the galaxy!”

Yes, they were afraid. Snoke was powerful beyond words, everyone knew that. For Kylo Ren to be able to kill Snoke, that had to be a power beyond their comprehension. 

“A TRAITOR!” Hux shouted, foaming in madness and anger.

As if on cue, Ben’s laughter sounded over the ship, making everyone even more nervous. 

_ “Oh Huxley. I know how you enjoyed it, seeing him like that, severed in half, spread over the floor. Do you want to know how Snoke used to call you?” _

_ “ _ Don’t you dare, you….you...SOLO”

_ “Ah! Yes. A rabid cur” _

That sent Hux over the edge. 

“I want that ship obliterated! FIRE THE CANNON”

Rey saw the red light emanating from the cannon. Saw the warping and the jolts of electricity spreading into the ship. She only had time to swerve up, away from the explosion, hoping that the Falcon would join her. 

It didn’t.

____

The base shook with the power of the Destroyer’s blast. The red lights and buzzers signaled furiously the compromise to the ships’ circuits and equipment, caused by the electromagnetic disruption. The moon had taken most of the Destroyer’s blast, but not enough to prevent damage to the fleet.

Finn ran to the navigation centre. The hologram came in and out of focus, shaking and vibrating from the interference. Rose was frantically going from one switchboard to the other, diverting the power to the critical areas of the base: hangar, medical bay, nurse droids, bacta tanks.

Finn looked at the swarm of green dots - the resistance fleet - and the red dots - the TIE fighters. He could see the path of the laser fire. The explosion of the Destroyer. And the havoc that followed suit: the green and red lights fading, the ships destroyed as the blast took them one by one. 

“Come on! Come on!” he whispered, nervous. He was trying to find the code signature of the ships, trying to find Rey and Poe amidst the cacophony of lights blinking away in the fading hologram. Finally, one light turned yellow. Then another one. Finn exhaled - they were alright. 

“Finn! You have to run downstairs, ships are coming in, we need to help them!” Rose screamed above the sirens “You stupid computer! Shut that damn sound off!” she resumed, banging on the keyboard, racing from one station to the next one.

Finn sprinted to the elevator and pushed the buttons. The door opened halfway and he had to force it in order to squeeze through.

“Work, damn you!” 

Finally, the door closed behind him and he was able to set it motion. The lights flickered as he descended, and he thought of the ships, disappearing on the holoboard.

When the doors opened on the landing bay, the smoke invaded his nostrils. X-Wings were cramming on the open space. A couple of them were on fire, the pilots running left and right, trying to fight the flames. Some of the pilots were being carried away on hover stretches, the burns oozing pus and blood, mingling with shouts of agony and pain. Someone was crying. The medical droids were hurrying through the damage, trying to carry off the hurt into the medical bay. Above the crackling sound of plastoid and metal being torn into pieces, Finn was able to hear a familiar voice.

“Hurry up with that stretcher! You! Round up whoever is not wounded, we have to make sure those TIEs disperse!”

Finn ran towards the voice and saw Poe blasting orders away. He was pale, an ugly gash on his forehead. His jacket was gone, the shirt was ripped into pieces - makeshift bandages for some pilots. When he turned, he saw his friend and it was as if all the hurt and pain that he had been avoiding came crashing down all at once. Finn ran and embraced his friend, making sure that he would not fall.

“Poe, we need you. Don’t lose it, please!”

Poe gingerly placed an arm around his friend’s back and hugged him close. 

“We lost so many…”

“We won. We won, Poe”

Poe took a step back, being careful not to lose his grip on Finn’s arm, making sure that he would not fall. 

“Did we?”

Finn looked at his friend - his bruised and battered friend - and then at the carnage that surrounded them. It was as if everything was in slow motion. He thought of his first deployment, and the friends he lost. Of the panic attack he felt, feeling his comrades dying and a piece of him dying with him. He looked at Poe once more, but he was already shouting orders and directing teams into the medical centers.

There was a loud growl coming from the other end of the bay, which Finn immediately recognized.

“Chewie!”

He ran, avoiding the injured and the staff helping them. A couple of ships were already departing, rushing to snuff out the last TIE’s that were still hovering around the base, looking for places to enter among the damaged shield. 

Chewbacca was trying to avoid being carried by the medical droids. Finn could see that he was bleeding from his arm and his leg was also in bad shape. But still he pushed away the cart and the people trying to help. Finn pushed the staff away and stood in front of the wookiee.

“Stop it! Stop it, Chewbacca!”

The giant slowly calmed down, eyeing sideways at the censored stare that Finn was giving him.

“You are hurt. Please go with them, let them help”

Chewie grunted and wailed, waiving with his right arm towards a ship, parked in the far corner. Finn realized that Chewie was not avoiding help, he was asking for help - not for his own, but for his friend. Finn felt a giant trap closing inside him at the prospect of Rey being hurt. He hurried towards the ship, ignoring the burnt carnage and jumping over the live electrical wires spread over the floor. 

He climbed the narrow ramp and then ran into the cockpit. No one was there. He looked outside and spotted a figure, at the end of an access ramp, dangerously close to the edge. He was there in two breaths.

Rey stood in silence, watching the vacuum before her. Feet apart, arms bare and stretched towards the darkness, palms open and fingers spread. Suddenly, there was an explosion directly in front, loud enough and strong enough to make Finn hesitate. And then another. And another. 

TIE’s were being directed into the forcefield of the base, like flies into a spider’s web. The Rebel fleet, rushing to meet their enemy, were being caught as well. One, after the other, falling into a death trap. 

Finn looked at Rey and saw her trembling, her body quivering and hunching dangerously forward. His eyes widened, recognizing that stance. 

The Dark in her was finally open, overpowering, consuming. Revenge, at last! Something to dull the pain of being severed from its other self. 

Finn could only watch, in horror, as another incoming X-Wing crossed the path of Rey’s Force grip. The ship spun out of control into the base’s defences, incinerating almost instantly. The draft of the explosions made her hair twirl in disarray, and Finn wondered if he was seeing a Force ghost or real flesh.

“Rey!” he called her. She jittered and her arms waivered “What are you doing? Stop!”

Hearing her friend’s voice was a rude awakening. She looked at her outstretched hands, to her fingers like the claws of a monster - like Snoke’s. 

She convulsed and began falling. Finn only had time to jump forward and snatch her before she fell into the oblivion below. He was shaking, anxious, cradling her on his lap, checking for the sight of blood or wounds. He couldn’t see anything. His eyes focused on her face, and he froze. She was as white as the snow in Hoth, the lips blue, eyes glassy.

“Rey? Rey! You are not doing this to me” Finn spoke through clenched teeth and a solid grip. His hands found a pliable body, thin and stretched, like paper. Fragile. Breakable. It was as if she was half the person who had gone into battle. 

Her gaze went upward, and she saw a mist, dark and infinite gently falling over her, like a shroud. 

Darkness had come, after all.

___________

_ In a dark place we find ourselves. And a little more knowledge lights our way. _

There was a breeze, gently caressing her arms. She shivered.

_ Open your eyes, Rey. _

She wanted to obey, but couldn’t. Why would she? 

_ I find your lack of faith disturbing. _

Those voices. Unknown, but at the same time, familiar. Rey gently forced her eyelids to open. The light blinded her, at first, but when she focused she was met with the most intense shade of blue ever seen. A blue sky, an infinite sky, stretching beyond sand, dunes and mountains. Her eyes watered, probably for being closed for so long, and she scrubbed them with her hands, forcing them to function.

_ Your eyes can deceive you; don’t trust them. _

She looked around, searching for the sound of the voice, but there was no one. Only the desert and the wind. She looked down: her orange jumpsuit was gone. She was wearing her desert clothes, the same she wore on Jakku. Strangely, that gave her some comfort; it felt like going home.

She was standing on top of a large dune, the earth stretching before her. There was a path on the sand, the wind already starting to clear the tracks away. Like brushstrokes on a large canvas, they went on and on, beyond the dunes. 

_ Sandpeople always ride single side, to hide their numbers. _

She startled, looking in every direction. The voice again, right there, beside her. But there was no one. Rey frowned at the tracks and decided to follow them, to see where they might lead.

Minutes turned into hours. Her feet dragged and sunk over the loose sand, making it difficult to walk. She looked at the sky, but still it remained bright blue: the sun wouldn’t set on that strange land. Once in a while she would stop and look around, trying to see if someone would appear. She tried to shout, call, but her words would muffle on her lips, as if the air didn’t carry them. No eco. Just silence. She looked at the treads, still stretching before her, fading. 

_ These are your final steps. _

Hours stretched into hours. And still no hunger, no thirst: it was as if she had just woken up. Finally, the ground became tougher and sand gave way to dirt. But the tracks kept going still, perfectly carved in the arenite before her. 

_ That is the way. _

“I know this place. I have seen it before”

That dune. That rock. That path. It was Tatooine, it had to be. Which meant that she was close to the cave. The cave where she had found him, mending his wounds. Where she had brought him from Dark into the Light. Her heart leapt: could it be true?

_ Hope is like the sun. _

She smiled at the voice. She could recognize it anywhere. 

“Leia”

Rey began hastening her pace, her heart was carrying her legs forward, making her move.The canyon was there, she knew it.  _ Only a few steps _ , she thought,  _ a few steps more _ , and she would be at the entrance of the cave.

She crouched around a tough bend and was at the plateau where she had first seen the Knights of Ren. And above a few slabs of rock, there it was: the entrance, round and wide. But instead of the narghly, dark and twisted branches, there were vines of an emerald green. She could see small, blue flowers creeping inside them. Her heart leapt with joy and hope, making her stomach flutter. She climbed the first ledge, and then another, and another still, until she was on the final slab, looking into the dark entry. There was only silence, answering back.

Rey stepped into the threshold and suddenly the flowers bloomed and leapt towards her, surrounding her. 

“Butterflies!”

The tiny creatures flew around her, startled by her presence. She smiled, watching them fly by her, the tiny wings caressing her face, before disappearing into the tunnel.

She stepped inside, walking down the long, dim corridor. Light entered here and there, from the crevices above, making it easy to watch where she was stepping. Down she went, until she came to the room where he had been hiding. Where they had found each other, bared their souls and quenched their desire. She longed for his touch.

It was still the same. The boxes, ropes, bucket, water. All untouched, just like she remembered. The light flooding in from the skylight above. She looked to the niche, and saw someone sitting there, cloaked. 

She wanted to say his name, but couldn’t. She was shaking like a leaf, the emotion making her unable to speak as the figure stood up and removed its hood, and Rey found herself looking into a Knight of Ren.

Kat had her hair completely loose, the whitest Rey had ever seen. Her face was glowing, making her look younger and serene. A blue glow surrounded her: a Force ghost.

“We were waiting for you”

Her voice ran deep, ancient. It dragged and echoed through the chamber. 

“How can this be? What are you doing here?”

“We are nowhere, and everywhere”

_ Rejoice for those around you that are transformed into the Force. _

Her lips quivered and she felt out of breath at the words spoken. Sadness crept into her heart, where once had been joy. Grief and madness would follow. A coldness came out of nowhere and the light in the room dimed. Kat looked up to the skylight and saw the dark clouds, churning by.

“Then, it’s true. He is gone”

Kat stepped closer and placed a hand on Rey’s shoulder. It felt solid, and real as if it was her own flesh. Rey looked at her face and found the Knight smiling.

_ No one is ever truly gone _

Kat’s face became liquid, changing with familiar faces as they swam, in recognition of the Force. Luke. Leia. 

“You are here. Why isn’t he?”

Kat´s face settled into her own again, eyes sharp as steel. 

“Leia knew what had to be done, what were the sacrifices to protect her son. So did we”

There was someone behind them. She turned around, slowly, and saw all the Knights there. All of them, ghosts. She turned once more, to look at Kat, but it was Leia standing there instead, clad in white. Younger, beautiful, one with the Force. Rey could not contain the tears anymore, they ran freely down her face.

“To be able to carry our own self across vast distances, demands too much of our vital Force”, she whispered, looking on to the Knights. 

“And we gave it, gladly, to the Force”, Kat whispered behind them. Rey turned to face them all.

“We wouldn’t leave him again”

“Our final gift to our master”

“To our friend”

Suddenly, everything went dark and the floor sunk beneath her feet, but she did not fall. 

_ “Ben Solo is not from this place. Yet.” _

There was a light ahead and Rey walked towards it, until she came into the familiar common room of the Falcon. The Knights were sitting in a circle, at its center, palms spread and touching. They were chanting.

_ I am the Force and the Force is with me.  _

Ben wasn’t among them. She walked past the Knights into the cockpit and came to a halt at the sight of the command controls. Someone sat at the pilot’s seat.

“Ben?”

The chair turned and there was a young man sitting there, someone she had never seen before. He was handsome, with shoulder length blond hair, eyes of the bluest blue. There was a scar across his brow.

“Who are you?”

_ You're afraid... that you will never be as strong as Darth Vader. _

Rey exhaled deeply and closed her eyes. Anakin Skywalker.

The man stood up and walked towards her, towering her, like a giant. Like his grandchild. His eyes were glowing, hipnotic. Rey could fall into those eyes and swim inside them into oblivion. The Force hummed inside her ears once more, beating at the pace of her heart. She dared to fight back his stare, the same stare she had fought back while strapped on an interrogation chair. She saw Anakin’s lips tremble and slide into a smirk.

“Why not go back to your friends? To Jakku? Life could be so much simpler, fixing things.”

“Was yours?” Rey spat back.

Anakin’s smile turned dark and ominous. Rey could feel the change in the Force, the same change she felt inside her, the same battle stirring between Light and Dark. Her eyes widened, recognizing they were the same.

“Sometimes there are things no one can fix” he finally said, with utter sadness.

“You are right. We are imperfect. Flawed. But that is why we are stronger together”

Anakin watched her intently and decided to move closer. Rey could feel his scent: he smelled of sand, heat and regret.

“A red thread...binding you. A dyad in the Force” he whispered, watching Rey’s face battle with the unger in his eyes. So much like Ben. Suddenly, he pushed her and Rey stumbled a step back. 

“What are you still doing here?” his hands reached for her shoulder, and she tried to battle him, unsuccessfully. His grip felt like hot iron on her arms, and there was a pressure building inside her chest. He kept holding her, firmly.

_ I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me.  _

Again, the jolt in her chest. A pain that went through her, numbing her fingers, arms and legs.So such pain!

“Rise, Rey of Jakuu”

____

Rey opened her eyes into the liquid environment of a bacta tank. Her body twitched, wanting to get away from the cables and strings attached to her limbs. She reached for her face, trying to remove the mask that allowed her to breathe artificially and was met with the shock of cold, salted water rushing into her mouth. She looked up and swam to the surface, gasping for air.

She grabbed the rail and held on tight, taking stock. Her muscles were sore, but functional - the machine had taken care of that. She swung her legs over and dropped down clumsily, falling over the hard floor. The lights blinked and flashed open around her, the droids emerging from their positions, helping her to stand, taking her temperature and vital signals. She saw, with some relief, a droid bringing her clothes. She removed the wetsuit and dried herself, observing her skin, her hands, her limbs - it was all good, all functional. How much time had gone by?

Suddenly, the doors opened and Finn walked into the room. They both stood there, speechless.

“How long?” she finally asked. 

“Just a few months…”

She breathed deeply and tried to control herself. 

“They don’t want us here, do they?”

Finn hesitated for a moment, surprised by that affirmation. That Ben Solo was, perhaps, alive somewhere, waiting. 

“So far as we know, the Falcon disappeared in the blast of the Destroyer”, he paused before the next words were said. He was afraid to say them.”You...you took down a lot of ships that day, Rey. Good pilots. Poe and Rose, they saw you…”

“And they are afraid now. Afraid that I have turned into the Dark side”

Finn’s silence was enough of a confirmation. 

“I was able to convince them to hear you out. That maybe you were under some kind of...of Force thing, I don’t know!”, he confessed, desperate “If they know he’s alive...that you are awake...”

Rey smiled and nodded, squaring her shoulders, readying herself. She had to leave, not just for Ben’s sake, but for hers as well. Finn understood it, perfectly - his hand came round and presented her with her lightsaber.

“How long do I have?”

“Everyone is sleeping. They won’t notice that you are gone. After all, you have done it before”

Rey finished adjusting the lightsaber to her side and turned around. Finn. Her friend, her brother, who had given his hand and never looked back. She walked up to him and hugged him hard. 

“I will find a way back. I promise”

Finn sighed, stroking her back and imprinting her smell and feel into memory. It would be a long time before they would see each other again.

“I will be here. Always by your side”

“Take care of Poe for me, please”

“I will”

And, just like that, she was gone. 

________

_ A red thread. The lifeline that binds the dyad in the Force. _

Rey could see it, before her: wavering at first, but becoming solid and bright at each passing day. At each passing system in the Outer Regions. One after the other.

_ The power of two.  _

She smiled as the words whispered across her mind, moving her forward. She would not stop until she found him; not even if it would take the thousand years he had promised. But she knew it, in her heart, that it wouldn’t take that long - the thread was wider, brighter and stronger at each passing day. A beacon, to guide her through mists, galaxies and stars. 

A blue planet. 

She could see islands of green and gold, flickering on its surface. It was as blue as the sky she had seen in her dream. She opened herself into the Force, seeing the red thread whirl and descend into the planet’s surface. She followed it, descending her ship into the planet’s atmosphere and switching on the array, hoping that it would be her final stop. The ship’s monitors started blinking and a familiar signature code emerged in the holoboard. Rey gasped in relief and tears came falling down, freely, after being trapped by weeks of anxiety and search: it was the Falcon’s signature. She honed on it and charged the engines, roaring as fast as her heart beat.

The signal came from one of the smaller islands, in the east, and Rey piloted the small freighter towards it. Sure enough, she spotted the familiar, round shape of the Falcon from above, poorly hidden among the large trees occupying the island. Rey was able to maneuver the ship well enough for it to position it closer, until finally she killed out the engines. The ship sank onto the vegetation below, making a flock of strange bright orange birds emerge, cackling weirdly.

She looked at the silent ship, expectant: no motion. There was blaster fire across the carnage, and the landing gear was clearly damaged, torned from its base, making the ship somewhat askew. The result of a crash landing. There was rust forming in some of the edges. 

She stepped outside and still no motion, nothing moved except the animals around her. She caressed the battered fuselage, finding it cool and smooth to the touch. She closed her eyes, opening herself once more to the Force.

She felt her heartbeat. 

_ And it turned into the heartbeat of the birds flying above. Of the sea creatures lurking in the depths. Of the trees in the hills. Of the insects gnawing its roots. Of the wind and the sea breaking at the shore. Until finally, it turned into another human heartbeat.  _

_ His heartbeat. _

Her eyes shot open and she started running across the dense forest, the heartbeat guiding her through the foliage, not caring about the vines and branches cutting away her legs and arms, until she broke through the green canopy onto a beach, with a turquoise sea before her. 

The waves rushed in to welcome her. Her gaze scanned the horizon, until she looked to the stretch of sand before her: there were footsteps, disappearing into the ocean. 

A tall figure broke through the sea surface, in front of her. For a moment, she could not feel her legs, or the damp sand beneath her feet. Was it a dream? A Force vision? Her dream, or his? He turned around and saw her, the waves crashing around him. He stumbled forward, his chest heaving, the emotions running through his body - and hers. 

As Rey took a step forward he yelped, realizing that she was real after all. Quickly they ran towards each other, until they stopped in unison, as if suddenly realizing that it could all be a ruse, a trick of the Force. That they could be mad, somehow.

His hair was longer. A shadow of a beard was forming across his chin. He was unable to hide the damage caused by weeks of foraging, and waiting. But it was still his face - Ben Solo’s face. Rey could see him struggling, probably at a loss - like she was - for the thousand times he had planned that moment in his mind and how it must have turned out something completely different. It had been a long journey from the first time they had touched, the first time they kissed, the first time they had delivered their bodies to each other.

Finally, his face settled, his jaw tightened. He bit his lip before finally speaking.

“What took you so long, sweetheart?” he asked, in a serious tone. And then, he smiled brilliantly. 

She was home.

**The End**

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a long way since I started this story. It was a challenge I did, wanting to gather all the drabbles written for the Reylo Fic Recs facebook group. And then it became something on its own. 
> 
> Thank you for being patient with this story. It was a hard one to write, it accompanied me through highs and lows in my life. I cherish these characters and the friends I made in this fandom and this is for them.
> 
> Hope you enjoy it, and please do drop a comment or two. I would love to hear what are your thoughts about how it all turned out.
> 
> Thank you for being there!


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